Image source: Rathmore GAA
The all-conquering squad that won four East Kerry senior football championships in a row from 2014 to 2017 has already gone down in history but this Saturday Rathmore GAA Club paid homage to sporting heroes of an earlier generation to mark a very special anniversary.
It is now 60 years since Rathmore won the prestigious O’Donoghue Cup for the very first time with a deserved 2-5 to 0-4 victory over Dr Crokes in the decider.
That triumph sparked great celebrations in the parish and the team that earned that title were entered into a special chapter in the club’s sporting annals.
A 60th anniversary Mass to honour the 1963 O’Donoghue Cup winning team was held in the St Joseph’s Church this Saturday afternoon with PP Fr Pat O’Donnell presiding.
“A memorial Mass was a wonderful way to remember and pay tribute to such an important milestone in our history,” a club spokesperson said.
Another barren spell followed that first East Kerry SFC victory and it wasn’t until 15 years later – in 1978 – that Rathmore’s second victory came, a 1-9 to 1-5 win against Dr Crokes.
Killarney Legion provided the opposition in the 1984 final and Kilcummin in 2004 but Rathmore won both and then came the glorious four-in-a-row with O’Donoghue Cup final wins against Killarney Legion in 2014 and 2015, the former after a replay, and they followed that with two more victories against Dr Crokes in 2016 and Killarney Legion again in 2017.
The historic 1963 winning team, captained by Connie Doherty, included Diarmuid Sheehan, Dan Creedon, Pat Cahill, Freddie Murphy, John Saunders, Donie Moynihan, Micheál Cahill, Denis O’Connor, Jim Griffin, Donal Casey, Tim Linehan, Larry Kelly, Florrie O’Mahony, Paud McCarthy, Dan Linehan and Michael Dennehy.
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